A Bury St Edmunds couple who have run a town centre pub for three decades have received a special award to mark their long service.

Husband and wife Tony and Liz Fayers, who run the Greene-King-owned Rose and Crown pub, in Whiting Street, received the award from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Liz said they were “proud to be a traditional pub which offers something different” and thanked CAMRA for the specially-created award.

“It is very much a partnership between Tony and myself but it is not all about us, it is about our customers too,” she said.

“It has been a long time, but we both still enjoy it and we do feel a proper community pub. We always know when our regular customers’ birthdays are and we host dominos, darts and crib teams.”

The pub is situated just a short distance from Greene King’s Westgate brewery and features regularly in the Good Beer Guide.

“People like to ask when we are retiring, but we plan to be around for a while longer yet,” added Liz. “For me it’s actually over 40 years because I worked here when my father was in charge of the pub.”

At the same time as the long-service award, CAMRA also presented a trophy for town community pub of the year to the Rose and Crown, as well as acknowledging their nomination for pub of the year in 2016.

Martin Bate, chairman of the West Suffolk and Borders branch of CAMRA, said: “We always applaud pubs which are at the heart of their community and Liz and Tony have placed the Rose and Crown exactly there for three decades now.

“Their long-standing entry in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide reflects the quality and variety of real ales they serve to consistently high quality.

“Their long service to the customers and the industry merits huge praise.

“All three of these awards are hugely well-deserved and recognise their dedication to the local community and CAMRA’s aims. We were delighted to present Liz and Tony with them.”

Clive Chesser, managing director of Greene King Pub Partners, said: “Completing 30 years behind the same Greene King bar is a fantastic achievement for Liz and Tony.

“They both know the value of ensuring a pub creates and sustains a community around it and this recognition from CAMRA confirms how successful they have been in that regard for such a long period of time.”